Yachts away at Needham's Rosemary Lake

The sign at the edge of the parking lot off Rosemary Street clearly states “NO BOATING OR SWIMMING IN ROSEMARY LAKE.” Just don’t tell that to the members of the Minuteman Model Yacht Club.

Will Bradford

The sign at the edge of the parking lot off Rosemary Street clearly states “NO BOATING OR SWIMMING IN ROSEMARY LAKE.” Just don’t tell that to the members of the Minuteman Model Yacht Club.

The Needham-based club, founded in 1973, uses Rosemary as its home lake and either practices or races there two to three times a week, according to vice commodore Jim Linville.

“It’s a great sport,” said 70-year-old Jack Villa of Boylston. “I used to fly model airplanes. I played golf. To me, this is just the best.”

On such a warm, sunny Sunday morning, it was hard to argue with Villa.

The group consists of about 50 members, but according to Linville, a Hull resident, there are only a dozen or so diehards. The boats they raced at their most recent meet July 27 were sailboats one meter in length, but the club also race ships that range in size from one foot (“footies”) to gargantuan 7-footers. A small section of the lake was scattered with red, yellow, white, green and orange buoys around which the boats darted.

As the men walked along the lake’s banks in response to their boats’ position in the water, it was obvious the club was a close group.

“Starboard!” “Port!” “You’ve got to give me room at the buoy!” the men would occasionally yell to one another, like brothers.

“There’s no such thing as a bad guy in this hobby,” Linville said.

The hometowns of the club members read like a list of Boston suburbs, but apparently, only a few members are actually from the Needham, even though it is the club’s home town. The one Needhamite that was present at Rosemary Lake on Sunday was the club’s youngest member, 17-year old Colin Mosgrove.

Mosgrove, who has been a member since he was 14, said he stumbled upon the club by chance. “I just saw them down here; I came down and talked to them about it...”

“Before we knew it, he’s down here beating us with a boat that’s as old as he is,” John Whalen, 37, of Lunenberg, interrupted.

Mosgrove, who is a rising senior at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, was humble about his skills, but according to the others, he is one of the best. He races a boat with a thin hull, a model that can improve speed but takes much more skill to control.

“At 14 he was beating us all,” said Linville. “He’s a good kid. We like him.”

Hal Robertson of Arlington described the certain ebb and flow that comes with racing so often with the same group.

“I’ve been in this group 14 years,” he said. “Everyone goes through hot streaks, whether it’s six months or several years, that they’re winning everything. I had a year when I was winning everything, and people said enjoy it while it lasts. Now I’m coming in last all the time.”

At any of their events, members are more than happy to set up spectators with a boat — even though each one can cost between $300-$1,800 — and transmitter to let them get a feel for controlling one of the vessels. The men practically insist on getting newcomers into the water where, if one is lucky enough to take part in a race, last-place finishes are foregone conclusions against the members’ sailing skills.

Want to race?

The club meets for a “fun sail” every Thursday at 2 p.m. and races competitively on most Saturdays and Sundays at 10 a.m.

All meets are at Rosemary Lake in Needham.

For more information, contact Commodore Cliff Martin at 508-533-5971 or Vice Commodore Jim Linville at 781-925-0045, or visit the club’s Web site at www.modelyacht.org/club25.

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